► New electric Infiniti SUV
► Unveiled at 2019 Detroit show
► A new e-era for the brand
The new Infiniti QX Inspiration is the brand’s first all-electric SUV – and this concept car is said to inform the next generation of e-Infinitis. It was unveiled in the metal at the 2019 Detroit motor show, where Infiniti committed to launching ‘a range of electric, e-power performance hybrid vehicles.’
Featuring clean lines – part of a fresh design language for the Nissan-offshoot – the new QX Inspiration looks a little like an iPod crossed with a bar of Dove soap in its clean, white paintwork.
The car maker pledges it ‘sets a direct precedent for the company’s first fully electric production car, illustrating how new architectures and technologies are influencing modern Infiniti design.’
Infiniti QX Inspiration: unveiled at the NAIAS in Detroit
A concept car for now, the car is fused with a Japanese flavour and Infiniti uses the ‘Omotenashi’ meaning a mixture of craftsmanship and hospitality. The brand has pledged to electrify its range from 2021.
Note the relaxing, lounge-like interior – enabled by the lack of transmission tunnel and propshafts, owing to the electric powertrain. An e-motor nestles in each corner, providing 4wd and the battery is housed low down in the skateboard platform for a low centre of gravity.
The latest concept car above follows the Q Inspiration shown at the NAIAS in January 2018. The brand isn’t shy of showing concept cars – giving us plenty of clues to future directions (and masking the fact it doesn’t have enough production cars in the pipeline, it has to be said).
Ex-BMW design chief Karim Habib on the new electric crossover
‘The concept car in Detroit is the beginning of a new era for Infiniti, and an illustration of where we want to go with the brand,’ said Habib, who’s taken the reins at Infiniti as executive design director after a stint at Munich. ‘Electrification and other new technologies have given us the opportunity to evolve our design philosophy.’
The move to electrification can’t come soon enough for Infiniti. Its sales in the UK have struggled, as the premium sector has proved a hard nut to crack for Nissan’s upmarket brand. It sold just 750 cars in Britain in 2018 – down from 3515 the year before. That’s a collapse in sales of 79%…